I think I would like to use Photoshop. But Creative Cloud stops me, once upon a time I was needed to delete Adobe apps from PC and it was a nightmare. Nowadays you can't install Adobe apps without Creative Cloud.
Gimp is a free solution, but unfortunately is very weak in terms of functionalities and interface compared to Photoshop.
I have been using Affinity Photo for a few years, and I have to say it is a very solid alternative to Photoshop. It only costs 50$ (pay once, no subscription, free updates ; also there is a promotion of 25$ currently). You get all the advanced features that photoshop can offer, like non destructive layers, smart inpainting, RAW development, smart brushes, export layers, and so on.
Affinity photo is compatible with their other softwares like Affinity Designer (alternative to Illustrator) and Affinity Publisher (alternative to InDesign).
Have you tried GIMP? Haven't used Photoshop in ages, but GIMP can open PSD files, so hopefully it's close enough to functionality to replace Photoshop.
with all the updates gimp has been churning out lately, do you know if anyone has done a feature comparison of how far exactly is gimp from photoshop?
time or features
So theoretically in the next 2 years or whatever, this big feature and many smaller ones will come to gimp. Still how long before mass adoption would start because as you mentioned the biggest hurdle?
I have been using Affinity Photo for a few years, and I have to say it is a very solid alternative to Photoshop. It only costs 50$ (pay once, no subscription, free updates ; also there is a promotion of 25$ currently). You get all the advanced features that photoshop can offer, like non destructive layers, smart inpainting, RAW development, smart brushes, export layers, and so on.
Affinity photo is compatible with their other softwares like Affinity Designer (alternative to Illustrator) and Affinity Publisher (alternative to InDesign).